As a country, Scotland has led the way with its contribution to the world through inventions that have changed how we live.

And as a city, Glasgow has been at the forefront of this, with many of the most inventions the world has seen emanating from people who were born, living or working here.

Here’s our list of 11 Glasgow inventions that helped shape the modern world, one which would have been a whole lot different without the work and effort by the creativity and ingenuity of Glaswegians from yesteryear.

Read More

The (improved) steam engine

Factories, mills and mines the world over changed forever when James Watt, then an instrument maker in Glasgow in the mid 1700s invented a new type of steam engine (apparently inspired by a walk by a ‘steamie’ at Glasgow Green). In ending the dependence on water power as the engine of the Industrial Revolution, he is rightly regarded as “one of the most useful men who have ever lived”.

Antiseptic

The ‘father of modern surgery’, Joseph Lister transformed surgical practice in the late 1800s with his revolutionary use of carbolic acid (thenol) as an antiseptic. His discovery, while working as a professor in surgery at the University of Glasgow, has saved millions of lives and paved the way to the advancement of modern surgical technique and infection control.

Read More

The cash machine/PIN

A fore runner of the system we use today, Paisley-born inventor James Goodfellow was working as a development engineer in Glasgow in the 1960s when he got involved in a project to design a machine that could dispense money when banks were closed. He also came up with the idea for a coded card with a personal number to access the machines. The rest is history.

(Image: HEMEDIA/SWNS Group)

Waterproofs

A definite hit here in his home city, Glasgow born chemist Charles Macintosh patented the first ‘waterproof’ fabric in 1823, made out of rubberised fabric. In December last year Google celebrated the 250th anniversary of his birth with a ‘doodle’ of Macintosh in the rain.

Read More

The fridge

The history of artificial refrigeration can be traced back to Hamilton born physician, chemist and agriculturalist William Cullen, who designed a small refrigerating machine in 1755. Cullen trained as a medical apprentice in Glasgow and graduated as a Doctor in Medicine from the University of Glasgow in 1740.

The TV

The inventor of the first working television system, John Logie Baird studied electrical engineering at the Royal Technical College in Glasgow and at the University of Glasgow. He transmitted the world’s first long distance television signal from London to the Central Hotel at Glasgow Central Station in 1927.

John Logie Baird, pioneer of the television, in 1940 (Image: PA)

Beta blockers

Hailed as one of the most important drug discoveries of the 20th century, Sir James Black’s invention of beta blockers greatly advanced the world of clinical pharmacology. Born in Uddingston, Black Black established a Veterinary Physiology department at the University of Glasgow, and won the Nobel Prize for his work in medicine in 1988.

Read More

The police

Nothing to do with Sting or Message In A Bottle, it was the authorities in Glasgow successfully petitioned the Government to pass the Glasgow Police Act in 1800, thereby creating the City of Glasgow Police, thought to be the world’s first modern type municipal police force.

Ultrasound

The world’s first diagnostic ultrasound machine was invented by Ian Donald, while professor of Midwifery at Glasgow University. The Glasgow shipyards were key to his pioneering idea, where he witnessed ultrasound being used to detect flaws in metal, becoming the first person to realize the potential for its use in medical diagnosis.

Glasgow Coma Scale

The Glasgow Coma Scale is used in every hospital around the world as a means of reliable measuring the conscious state of a patient. And its development was made by Sir Graeme Treasdale and Brian Jennet while working at the Institute of Neurological Sciences in Glasgow.

Read More

Chicken tikka masala

As Glaswegian as Irn Bru, legend has it that the chicken tikka masala was invented after a Glasgow bus driver complained that his tikka dish was too dry. Chef Ali Ahmed Aslam, then proprietor of the Shish Mahal in the west end, improvised by adding a sauce made from yogurt, cream, spices, and a little of his tomato soup, creating the dish we all know and love today.